London council plans 10,000 new homes

Southwark council announces it will undertake one of largest housing projects in Britain

Written by Tanika Cato
18/07/2013 06:00 AM

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BUILDING PLANS: Southwark council has a high demand for housing (PA)

A SOUTH London borough has announced plans to build 10,000 council homes in a bid to tackle the affordable housing crisis.

Southwark council will undertake one of the biggest housebuilding programmes in Britain.

In the next decade experts predict London will need 400,000 new homes to deal with the growing population.

Many boroughs are selling off council housing at discount prices in order to help residents get on the housing ladder.

The south London borough is already the largest social landlord in the city and the third biggest in the country, with a waiting list of 20,000 for council housing.

Council leader Peter John said: “I can’t overstate the significance of this decision, at a time when the trend is for council housing to be sold more often than it is built.

“We announced last year that we plan to build 1,000 council homes and we are well on our way to delivering that plan. But even that number will barely scratch the surface of our waiting list, and we don’t want to sit around waiting for a crisis — we need to act now.”

Demand for housing is expected to increase with the regeneration of areas such as Elephant and Castle, Peckham and London Bridge.

Posted on: 18/07/2013 06:00 AM

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